I think easy credit has a lot to do with the rise in housing prices, as does the additional income earned by two spouses, but it's not quite so simple to compar

I think easy credit has a lot to do with the rise in housing prices, as does the additional income earned by two spouses, but it's not quite so simple to compare housing, say, 30 or 40 years ago to today. What we call a house, and the amenities we put in the home, are quite different. I was a kid in the 1970's and grew up in a middle to upper-middle class neighborhood in, what was at the time, a newly-minted suburb of New York City. I was pretty fortunate, but back then I remember neighbors who didn't have central air conditioning, and whose kids slept two to a bedroom (sometimes, three), and who -- if they took a vacation -- went camping for vacations. Hand-me-downs were no big deal. And not everyone drove a new car. The really well off drove Cadillacs. We got McDonalds or Pizza once a week, to give mom a break. If you take the equivalent lifestyle today, things are much different. Homes are bigger and better equipped. Cars are nicer -- and just about everyone in the family of driving age has one, of some kind. Vacations are more extravagant. People eat out more. Clothes are stylish. The middle and upper-middle class don't aspire to the standard of living we had 40 years ago. Many of them would turn their noses up at it. But, truthfully, a number of them could get by on one income, if they lived more modestly. I had a cousin of mine complain, a few years back, about how it takes two incomes to "survive." Do you want to know her idea of "surviving"? They have a big house with an in-ground pool, and an outdoor Tiki bar. They drive Volvos, and take nice vacations. For me, that about sums it up.